In the training of baseball and softball players in the art of hitting and fielding the ball, it is necessary for someone to repeatedly throw a ball for them to hit or catch. As most are aware, development of skill in hitting and fielding requires years of experience and tens of thousands and even millions of balls thrown in the players direction for their gaining of experience in reacting to the flight and speed of the ball. Hand--Eye coordination is a most difficult skill to acquire.
In recent years, automatic pitching machines have been developed which propel a ball in a preselected flight patch toward a target. These are mechanical devices which are complicated and generally require an expenditure that is beyond the average person's available income budget.
It is therefore evident that the sport needs required a relatively inexpensive device that could be easily operated over extended periods of time and which required less energy to operate than that required by the actual throwing of a ball by an individual. It was also desirable to provide an apparatus that could be rapidly loaded with a ball. The present invention is directed to overcome one or more of the problems as set forth above.